Relative Accessibility of Resorts?

[fabfemmeboy]

What differences in accessibility have you noticed across different resorts?

For example, we stayed at CSR last year and there were door buttons everywhere. When we went to Pop for dinner and to poke around, we realized that about half the doors in common areas had neither automatic open mechanisms nor door buttons. The bathroom was also much more difficult to navigate even though my chair has a tiny turning radius. It really surprised me because those seemed like something that should be standard across all Disney properties, certainly all of them built or renovated after a particular point in time.

Looking at POFQ this afternoon, I came across a handful of videos complaining about the difficulty of navigating the "street" paths in a chair because the curb cutouts don't have any rhyme or reason and the "sidewalk" areas are made too narrow due to the streetlamps and other big metal stuff installed on them.

Any other resorts that seem easier or harder to navigate for those with mobility issues?

 

[mamabunny]

What differences in accessibility have you noticed across different resorts?

For example, we stayed at CSR last year and there were door buttons everywhere. When we went to Pop for dinner and to poke around, we realized that about half the doors in common areas had neither automatic open mechanisms nor door buttons. The bathroom was also much more difficult to navigate even though my chair has a tiny turning radius. It really surprised me because those seemed like something that should be standard across all Disney properties, certainly all of them built or renovated after a particular point in time.

Looking at POFQ this afternoon, I came across a handful of videos complaining about the difficulty of navigating the "street" paths in a chair because the curb cutouts don't have any rhyme or reason and the "sidewalk" areas are made too narrow due to the streetlamps and other big metal stuff installed on them.

Any other resorts that seem easier or harder to navigate for those with mobility issues?

As someone who has stayed *A LOT* at POFQ, I am quite used to navigating there, and so most of the issues described... aren't really a problem for me. Having said that, if you want some pictures of the room, I posted them (with measurements) here in this thread. Overall POFQ is about as "friendly" as any other Resort at WDW; there are quirks that you learn relatively quickly (the exterior Floatworks door closer to building 4 has a door button, but the one closer to the central courtyard walkway does not - but there is one on the exterior doors from the central courtyard walkway to the interior main reception area, so...) The public bathrooms at POFQ have always felt accessible to me, however that was when I was using Angus (Travelscoot) and not Figment (Fold & Go) for purposes of full disclosure. One bonus here: Hard plastic shower bench can be sanitized. As someone who loves to Resort hop, and visit my favorites every trip, I adore that trip up and down the Sassagoula River on the boats to Disney Springs - it's a great hub for Resort hopping!

POR is (obvioulsy) basically identical to POFQ in terms of room size/layout, and shower benches. Overall I found the main buildings there to quite similar to POFQ in terms of automatic doors and door buttons - there is always at least one path of travel that is easily accessible. The public bathrooms there were good as well, however I will say that the accessible stall in the QS food court area was probably one of the tightest I have encountered in a WDW Resort hotel; it felt like an afterthought.

I have only had the pleasure of visiting and dining at OKW, but as a visitor, I had no problems there - other than wishing I could stay! Olivia's is on our "must-do" list for every trip!

WL is quite friendly as well, with many automatic doors, and door buttons - although that ramp from the main lobby down to Roaring Forks is *quite* a ride! LOL I actually think the room doors at WL may be some of the most difficult on property to open; they are very stiff, and hard to hold open for me, and are why I travel with a doorstop. WL rooms are very close in size to POFQ/POR, because WL was originally supposed to be a Moderate Resort, so the rooms are just a few feet larger than most Mod rooms on property, and are the smallest Deluxe rooms. I have not been back since pre-pandemic and the renovation, but prior to that, roll-in shower rooms either came equipped with one single Queen bed + bunks, or a King bed. I typically need 2 Queens when we travel, so when we stayed there, our adult daughter would wind up sleeping on the bottom bunk, curled up. Hopefully, they kept the same hard plastic shower benches that we see at POFQ/POR.

Boulder Ridge Villas at WL were lovely, and very accessible as well. Again, a heavy, hard to hold door, but otherwise the suite was laid out beautifully, other than the "side slide" shower that was about 3 feet wide by 3 feet deep with the seat folded up. The seat is a hard plastic seat that can be sanitized. You have to fold the seat down, and then do a side slide transfer - your knees will be under the shower controls, and the shower head and wand are mounted on the wall opposite the seat. It's just not an elegant solution, and as a long-legged person, my knees tend to bump the wall. I would prefer no carpet in the bedroom also, just for mobility purposes, but those have not been renovated in years, so that could happen yet.

FW Cabins are awesome; I would stay there again in a heartbeat, but we have had trouble with getting them cleaned well enough; I am extremely allergic to dogs, and because they tend to house a lot of service animals, I have yet to stay there without getting sick from allergies. Another Resort with hard plastic shower benches in the roll-in shower rooms (yay for sanitation and transfers!) Worst thing you can say about them is that you will have more bus transfers than a single-stop Resort (like POP, POFQ or WL).

Poly is great; the worst thing you can say about it is the elevator situation in the lobby, and that is only an issue when you need to change floors to get to/from the shops, dining or the Monorail. The last time I stayed there (now pre-pandemic/pre-renovation) my roll in shower room even had it's own door button (worked very well, although it was notoriously slow to close LOL) and there were hard plastic shower benches.

It's been so long since I was at POP - it was before I needed a mobility device, so I can't really speak to how that Resort functions for someone on wheels. We did stay there when my Mom was using a chair that I pushed, but she did not need it in the room, so we were in a standard room at the time. Ray Sharpton and (if I remember right) Bill Sears both commented on the "mesh fabric" sling style seats - not only are they harder to transfer into/out of, but I'm not sure how that could be adequately sanitized between Guests?

Those are just some fast thoughts off the top of my head; overall I tend to focus on things like the hard plastic shower benches, and an accessible path of travel inside my Resort hotel room/suite, and less about little minor details around the Resort in general. No place is perfect, (although for my money, WDW comes pretty dang close) and I am at WDW because it is my place to escape from, and heal from my pain, reality, and life in general. I tend to move at a leisurely pace, and just enjoy myself; I'm not there to race around and try to ride everything at MK before noon. That's just me!

 

[DisneyOma]

From what I remember about Pop Century, for the main building, the doors under the word "Pop" are automatic sliding doors, but the ones from the back poolside into the food court are manual with no button. One could go from the lobby core with the sliding doors through the gift shop into the food court, as I believe the doors to the gift shop are wide open all day long.

 

[olwyngdh]

From what I remember about Pop Century, for the main building, the doors under the word "Pop" are automatic sliding doors, but the ones from the back poolside into the food court are manual with no button. One could go from the lobby core with the sliding doors through the gift shop into the food court, as I believe the doors to the gift shop are wide open all day long.

As of February the doors closest to the drink refill area in the food court have the button to open them.

 

[Groot]

I just wish that ALL the hotels had the automatic doors to the handicap rooms.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

I have not stayed in HA rooms (as I walk about in the room), but I have definitely noticed a difference in accessibility of the resorts themselves. I pay the most attention to the bumpiness of the trail, covered pathways, and HA doorways to resort spaces (not to the rooms themselves).

Bay Lake Tower is among the easiest resorts for me, but it has some of the smallest studios, making keeping my chair in the room a much bigger deal than other stays. The Riviera is also among the top easiest, and Beach Club isn’t far behind. Animal Kingdom Lodge is easily accessible, but doors to the rooms are super heavy!! The Poly Villas are pretty low on the totem pole for me, strictly due to the beautifully themed (read- incredibly bumpy!) pathways which aren’t covered. The BW, however, actually seems the most non-accessible to me bc of how far out of your way you need to go for an elevator to the Boardwalk, and their door buttons are super hard to find (some are small nondescript buttons, on short well-themed posts… not at all what I’m looking for!). The Dolphin (not Disney, but on property) is also pretty challenging too… I hate knowing that everything could be done much faster if I didn’t have to find an elevator! Those last 2 may make things take longer, but everything is still pretty accessible at the end of the day.

Some public bathrooms are nearly impossible in a WC (here’s looking at you, Wilderness Lodge!!), and that’s even true in the parks. I’m glad you started this thread, bc it’s got me thinking that I need to keep better notes- like when I find a bathroom that I have a hard time getting into/out of!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I found BCV to be the most accessible. Like people have said, there were door buttons everywhere, except going into a guest room. The elevators to the guest floors were large and easy to navigate-after you got off the elevator, the area was large so you could turn around easily. On the other hand, I found the elevators at Poly to be the smallest I'd encountered at WDW, both in the main building and guest buildings (at least in Moreau). Since OKW only has elevators in 3 buildings, so otherwise you have to stay on the first floor, that's always stressful for me, hoping we ARE going to get first floor (the elevator buildings would be great, but so hard to get). In all our stays we've only gotten an elevator building once, but having it, the resort was fine-though the elevators were still smaller than BCV.

 

[Evita_W]

I found BCV to be the most accessible. Like people have said, there were door buttons everywhere, except going into a guest room. The elevators to the guest floors were large and easy to navigate-after you got off the elevator, the area was large so you could turn around easily. On the other hand, I found the elevators at Poly to be the smallest I'd encountered at WDW, both in the main building and guest buildings (at least in Moreau). Since OKW only has elevators in 3 buildings, so otherwise you have to stay on the first floor, that's always stressful for me, hoping we ARE going to get first floor (the elevator buildings would be great, but so hard to get). In all our stays we've only gotten an elevator building once, but having it, the resort was fine-though the elevators were still smaller than BCV.

This trip, we are first floor, but in our last trip to OKW, we got one of the elevator buildings, but we were still on the first floor.....lol

 

[SueM in MN]

As someone who has stayed *A LOT* at POFQ, I am quite used to navigating there, and so most of the issues described... aren't really a problem for me. Having said that, if you want some pictures of the room, I posted them (with measurements) here in this thread. Overall POFQ is about as "friendly" as any other Resort at WDW; there are quirks that you learn relatively quickly (the exterior Floatworks door closer to building 4 has a door button, but the one closer to the central courtyard walkway does not - but there is one on the exterior doors from the central courtyard walkway to the interior main reception area, so...) The public bathrooms at POFQ have always felt accessible to me, however that was when I was using Angus (Travelscoot) and not Figment (Fold & Go) for purposes of full disclosure. One bonus here: Hard plastic shower bench can be sanitized. As someone who loves to Resort hop, and visit my favorites every trip, I adore that trip up and down the Sassagoula River on the boats to Disney Springs - it's a great hub for Resort hopping!

POR is (obvioulsy) basically identical to POFQ in terms of room size/layout, and shower benches. Overall I found the main buildings there to quite similar to POFQ in terms of automatic doors and door buttons - there is always at least one path of travel that is easily accessible. The public bathrooms there were good as well, however I will say that the accessible stall in the QS food court area was probably one of the tightest I have encountered in a WDW Resort hotel; it felt like an afterthought.

I have only had the pleasure of visiting and dining at OKW, but as a visitor, I had no problems there - other than wishing I could stay! Olivia's is on our "must-do" list for every trip!

WL is quite friendly as well, with many automatic doors, and door buttons - although that ramp from the main lobby down to Roaring Forks is *quite* a ride! LOL I actually think the room doors at WL may be some of the most difficult on property to open; they are very stiff, and hard to hold open for me, and are why I travel with a doorstop. WL rooms are very close in size to POFQ/POR, because WL was originally supposed to be a Moderate Resort, so the rooms are just a few feet larger than most Mod rooms on property, and are the smallest Deluxe rooms. I have not been back since pre-pandemic and the renovation, but prior to that, roll-in shower rooms either came equipped with one single Queen bed + bunks, or a King bed. I typically need 2 Queens when we travel, so when we stayed there, our adult daughter would wind up sleeping on the bottom bunk, curled up. Hopefully, they kept the same hard plastic shower benches that we see at POFQ/POR.

Boulder Ridge Villas at WL were lovely, and very accessible as well. Again, a heavy, hard to hold door, but otherwise the suite was laid out beautifully, other than the "side slide" shower that was about 3 feet wide by 3 feet deep with the seat folded up. The seat is a hard plastic seat that can be sanitized. You have to fold the seat down, and then do a side slide transfer - your knees will be under the shower controls, and the shower head and wand are mounted on the wall opposite the seat. It's just not an elegant solution, and as a long-legged person, my knees tend to bump the wall. I would prefer no carpet in the bedroom also, just for mobility purposes, but those have not been renovated in years, so that could happen yet.

FW Cabins are awesome; I would stay there again in a heartbeat, but we have had trouble with getting them cleaned well enough; I am extremely allergic to dogs, and because they tend to house a lot of service animals, I have yet to stay there without getting sick from allergies. Another Resort with hard plastic shower benches in the roll-in shower rooms (yay for sanitation and transfers!) Worst thing you can say about them is that you will have more bus transfers than a single-stop Resort (like POP, POFQ or WL).

Poly is great; the worst thing you can say about it is the elevator situation in the lobby, and that is only an issue when you need to change floors to get to/from the shops, dining or the Monorail. The last time I stayed there (now pre-pandemic/pre-renovation) my roll in shower room even had it's own door button (worked very well, although it was notoriously slow to close LOL) and there were hard plastic shower benches.

It's been so long since I was at POP - it was before I needed a mobility device, so I can't really speak to how that Resort functions for someone on wheels. We did stay there when my Mom was using a chair that I pushed, but she did not need it in the room, so we were in a standard room at the time. Ray Sharpton and (if I remember right) Bill Sears both commented on the "mesh fabric" sling style seats - not only are they harder to transfer into/out of, but I'm not sure how that could be adequately sanitized between Guests?

Those are just some fast thoughts off the top of my head; overall I tend to focus on things like the hard plastic shower benches, and an accessible path of travel inside my Resort hotel room/suite, and less about little minor details around the Resort in general. No place is perfect, (although for my money, WDW comes pretty dang close) and I am at WDW because it is my place to escape from, and heal from my pain, reality, and life in general. I tend to move at a leisurely pace, and just enjoy myself; I'm not there to race around and try to ride everything at MK before noon. That's just me!

OKW has the mesh style shower seats. I know some people don’t feel they work well for them as far as transferring and sitting securely.
For my daughter’s needs, those are the best. She does not transfer herself. The hard plastic ones are harder for her to sit securely on; she relies on the little bit of ‘give’ in the sling ones to sit well and it helps that there are 2 walls. We put a towel on the seat under her to prevent any rubbing. I’m not concerned about ability to clean them - hospitals use similar surfaces and are able to adequately clean and disinfect them.

We also like being able to park close to our room at OKW and not having to traverse long hallways to get to our room.

 

[mamabunny]

OKW has the mesh style shower seats. I know some people don’t feel they work well for them as far as transferring and sitting securely.
For my daughter’s needs, those are the best. She does not transfer herself. The hard plastic ones are harder for her to sit securely on; she relies on the little bit of ‘give’ in the sling ones to sit well and it helps that there are 2 walls. We put a towel on the seat under her to prevent any rubbing. I’m not concerned about ability to clean them - hospitals use similar surfaces and are able to adequately clean and disinfect them.

We also like being able to park close to our room at OKW and not having to traverse long hallways to get to our room.

View attachment 583912View attachment 583912

Your beautiful daughter is also significantly skinnier than this old MamaBunny... :::sigh::: so I imagine she barely makes a dent in that seat! LOL I would sink like a rock, and never be able to get myself back up out of there again... I would have to call Reedy Creek, and it might traumatize everyone involved for life! LOL

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

I found BCV to be the most accessible. Like people have said, there were door buttons everywhere, except going into a guest room. The elevators to the guest floors were large and easy to navigate-after you got off the elevator, the area was large so you could turn around easily. On the other hand, I found the elevators at Poly to be the smallest I'd encountered at WDW, both in the main building and guest buildings (at least in Moreau). Since OKW only has elevators in 3 buildings, so otherwise you have to stay on the first floor, that's always stressful for me, hoping we ARE going to get first floor (the elevator buildings would be great, but so hard to get). In all our stays we've only gotten an elevator building once, but having it, the resort was fine-though the elevators were still smaller than BCV.

Sooooo true! I didn’t even remember/think about that, but yes- the elevators in the Poly villa buildings are super small!! & I have stayed away from OKW simply bc of the lack of elevators. Great points!